New mayor hits early speed bump
Gore district mayor Ben Bell is contesting a decision made by council staff not to reimburse expenses for his private personal assistant who travelled to Wellington with him.
The expense claim, and her role with the council, will be debated at the first meeting of the council next week.
Bell has personally employed Shanna Crosbie as his assistant, and she travelled with him to Wellington when he attended a two-day training session for new mayors hosted by Local Government New Zealand.
Bell has furnished an expense claim of $4584 for the trip, which included flights and accommodation.
A report from chief executive Stephen Parry says he decided not to reimburse Crosbie’s costs incurred for the trip, after receiving advice from the council’s general manager corporate support, Lornae Straith.
Straith’s report says the council’s Sensitive Expenditure Policy allows for the mayor, elected members and council staff to incur expenditure if there is a justified business purpose.
The policy does not allow for the costs of Bell’s personal assistant to be covered. Crosbie is not a council employee or an elected member and does not have the authority to act in any capacity for council related business.
The report says the trip was not booked by council staff and if it had been, the subsequent costs to the council were likely to have been less.
When asked about the issue, Bell said he had not got his head around the council agenda yet because he had been in meetings.
‘‘I just want to see where councillors’ heads are at on this issue.’’
A second report from Parry included in the agenda profiles the request from Bell for a dedicated assistant.
It says the council already employs an executive assistant to both the mayor and the chief executive.
In the report, Parry says from what he understands, following the amount of publicity arising from Bell winning the mayoralty, Crosbie was engaged as his private personal assistant to help with media inquiries, and has continued to assist Bell in diary management, press releases and travel bookings.
In some instances, the private personal assistant is committing the council to costs despite not being a council employee, the report says.
‘‘The current situation is confusing and poses a reputational risk to the council,’’ Parry says.
‘‘All press releases from the council should be sent via the council’s communications team. However, to date, press releases have been emanating from the mayor’s private personal assistant and refer all media inquiries to her. This has seen press releases on the same subject, but with different content, being issued by both the mayor’s private personal assistant and the council’s communications team.’’
The report says it is understood that a part-time position of 27.5 hours a week is envisaged. The cost of this position is estimated to be $70,000-$85,000 annually, which has an impact of increasing rates by about 0.4%.
Bell said he was surprised at the recommendation in the agenda, because based on conversations he had with Parry, he thought there was support for Crosbie becoming a council staff member.